Broken Monochrome
by Juno Tartini
Summary: Nekozawa-senpai fell in love with Inoue-kun. When he confesses, it seems that his world is upside-down and reverted to darkness. But if Tamaki is around, there's nothing he won't do to help. Shounen-ai.
1. Apology

**Title: **. No One Has to Know, _"Lover's in Japan" challenge by skaruux, from Lunaescence_

**Category:** Ouran High School Host Club

**Rating: **T

**Pairings: **one-sided Nekozawa/OC, Nekozawa/Tamaki

**Written by:** Juno Tartini

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_Prompt #o1 title_: Apology

The Black Magic Club president, Nekozawa Umehito, could not fathom, for the life of him, the reason why he followed Inoue Hayato*. He was a person of the light, and was rarely seen after the sunset. This simple fact disheartened the Russo-Japanese teen for a long while, but . . . it still didn't deter him. Inoue _did_ accept his invitation to the Club despite Tamaki's frantic disagreements. That counted for something, right? It meant that Inoue had some kind of interest in him—there was still hope for the Dark Prince.

"Eh, is that you, Nekozawa-senpai?" the curly-haired brunet asked softly, not wanting to disturb his senior, who seemed to be deep in thought. Umehito regained his focus and stared into forest green eyes with his own light blue orbs. Oh those accursed eyes! Remarkable of how easy it is to lose himself in them! "Senpai?" Hayato gently placed a slender hand on Umehito's shoulder, shaking him lightly. "Are you all right?"

This time, Umehito lifted his eyes to see Hayato's face. A beautiful, peach-hued face had worry laced in light wrinkles around his frown.

"Y-yes, I am. P-please forgive me. I did not mean to worry you, Inoue-kun." Umehito shifted, his dark cloak rustling, echoing in the large empty halls. Hayato's face relaxed and he released a soft sigh of relief.

"You looked as if you were going to black-out, senpai! Have been outside the club room for long?"

Umehito had to think. Did he stay out in the light for too long? He didn't have an answer; he was too busy looking for the nimble violinist to even worry about the light.

"I don't know. I don't believe I have," he answered at last. His kouhai smiled before bursting in a fit of laughter. It wasn't a taunting laugh; no, it was more of a melodic chuckle. Umehito could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat. "What is so amusing to you, Inoue-kun?"

". . . It's just . . . that senpai . . . has never . . . forgotten about . . . the brightness before!" Hayato answered in between laughs. "It's as if . . . senpai was distracted or something." His laughter died down to giggles. _Now_ Umehito's heart skipped a beat, or rather stopped for a second. Was he _that _distracted today?

"Have I? If that's true . . . it's Inoue-kun's fault."

Well, that's what he _wanted_ to say. Instead, his sky-colored eyes widened significantly before Hayato took note.

"Is that so? I see . . ."

Hayato raised an eyebrow at Umehito's sudden reservation. _What is senpai hiding?_

"Senpai—"

"Inoue-kun." Umehito took hold of the slightly shorter boy's shoulders. A heavy sigh left Umehito's lips and a feeling of dread weighed heavily on his heart. _It's now . . . or never._ "I . . . To tell you the truth, I _have_ been distracted lately and I know that. And the cause of my constant distraction . . . is you Inoue-kun. Ever since you took my invitation to the Black Magic Club, I've been plagued non-stop by thoughts of you. It's as though you had put a curse on me . . . to fall in love with you. And since I realized that, I've shadowed you . . ." He let go of the boy's shoulders while his own slumped with despair.

Hayato's eyes softened, his green-colored iris liquefying. "Senpai . . . I am flattered to know that you have such feelings for me. But, I must apologize. I'm afraid that I do not have feelings for you with the intensity that you have."

He said it. Although Hayato said rejected him in the kindest way possible, Umehito felt a sharp pain in his heart. He should have known. The light was never destined to mingle with the dark. But . . . Hayato was his artificial sun. He was the light that never hurt him.

Hayato apologized once more before reluctantly turning away.

_No, I should be the one apologizing, Inoue-kun. I shouldn't have done that._

_

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* - For now until I decide when the poll closes, Inoue's name is going to be Hayato. So please vote!


	2. Cherry Blossom

_Prompt #o2 title_: Cherry Blossom

"_I must apologize. I'm afraid that I do not have feelings for you with the intensity that you have._"

Those words constantly haunted Umehito every moment his mind was preoccupied. What a fool he was, to actually believe that he had a chance with being with the light.

The sparse members of the Black Magic Club noted their president's sluggish movements over the past two weeks. And they worried dearly for his health. It seemed that Nekozawa kept to himself longer in the room, as well as kept fewer candles lit. And he'd become even sneakier than before! For a moment you can see the photophobic man and then the next, he's completely disappeared, without a trace. Indeed, this behavior was unsettling for the Black Magic Club members.

Umehito was curled in a corner of his private room; several candles were lit around him, small globes of light barely illuminating the room. With knees pulled to his chest and arms wrapped around them, the Russo-Japanese reminisced to the first day he met Inoue Hayato.

_It was in April, the start of the new term as Umehito became a second year in Ouran High. He quickly shuffled through the throngs of icterine* dresses and violet and black uniforms to hurry out of the sun. No one in particular took note if this strange behavior for they were engaged in silly banter and obnoxious conversations, and Umehito preferred that to happen. He didn't like being the center of attention—the spotlight was just never meant for him to be under, and he never had a problem with it before._

_Standing under a sakura tree, Inoue Hayato waited patiently for his classmates, Suō Tamaki and Ōtori Kyōya. Today was their first day as first years in high school and eligible to start their Host Club. A gentle breeze raked through the delicate branches of the tree, supple pink petals drifting towards the ground. Several of the petals landed in the boy's curly brown hair. Green eyes narrowed in annoyance and slender fingers slid into his curly locks to dislodge the petals._

_Then a black blur passed by and something fell from the moving object. Hayato quickly moved over to the item and picked it up. It was a cat hand puppet. And quite the popular toy, too. He had seen it in a toy store once when he was a child. If his memory served him right, it was a limited edition Beelznef. Clutching it softly in his hand, Hayato ran after the owner, clad in a black hooded cloak._

"_Wait! You dropped something!" he called out, the cloaked person halting under the dark shade of one of the pillars. Hayato caught up with him, holding out the puppet while the other hand on his knee. "You were in quite the rush, weren't you? If I'm not mistaken, this is a Beelznef puppet, isn't it?"_

_The cloaked person reached for his puppet, brushing his fingers ever so lightly over the other's. And dear, his skin was so soft! Just like the petals in the trees._

"_T-thank you very much. May I ask your name?" His voice was soft, timid._

"_My name is Inoue Hayato. And may I ask the same?"_

"_Umehito . . . Nekozawa Umehito." The plum-boy* noted that there was a foreign touch when he spoke in Japanese. The bell tolled, signaling the beginning of classes. He bowed slightly, and quietly excused himself before rushing off in the corridors._

_As he zoomed down the corridors, Umehito's heartbeat sounded loudly in his chest and head. And he was positive that it wasn't from physical exhaustion. He knew that he had started to develop a crush on this Inoue Hayato_.

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**Extended Ending**

"_Hayato! Where are you!" a voice called from the courtyard. Said teen turned around and walked out from the shadows and waved an arms towards the blond who called him._

"_Tamaki! Kyōya! Over here!" He waited as they walked over. Tamaki immediately rushed to the brown-haired teen, nearly toppling them over as he desperately glomped him. "Tamaki, I can't breathe! You're cutting off oxygen to my brain!" he strained to say until Kyōya pulled the clingy blond away._

"_Why are you here, Hayato? We told you wait under the sakura tree in the courtyard!"_

"_Well, someone had dropped something and I, being a splendid gentleman gave it back to him."_

"_Who was he, then?"_

"_He said his name was Nekozawa Umehito—"_

"_WHHHHAAAAATTTT!" Tamaki proceeded to grab handfuls of his hair, "Nekozawa-senpai!"_

"_Yes . . . what of it? Why do you seem to be so terrified of him, Tamaki?"_

"_It appears that Tamaki here believes that Nekozawa-senpai uses black magic and places curses on people," Kyōya replied, shifting up on the bridge of his nose. "There is no proof of this accusation, however, so do not worry about it, Inoue-kun."_

"_Black magic? That sounds interesting, doesn't it?"_

"_Are you serious, Hayato! He even has his own club! The OCCULT Club!"_

"_I mean, why not? After all, isn't it a rumor that the Devil's Trill Sonata was originally composed by the Devil himself hence the name?" Hayato crossed his arms over his chest. "Why wouldn't I be interested in something such as that?"_

"_Hayato, you don't understand! If you do something to upset Nekozawa-senpai, you'll be cursed!"_

"_Need I remind you, Tamaki? There are no curses. Now, we must hurry along. We'll be late." Kyōya repeated, pushing the blond and brunet* towards the school while Tamaki continued his spastic behavior.

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[1] _Icterine_ is a shade of yellow. I was going to call the dresses a _canary yellow_, but that color's been overused.

[2] The kanji in Umehito (梅人) means _plum person_ or _plum man_.

[3] Rarely used masculine form of _brunette_.


	3. Clouds

_Prompt #o3 title_: Clouds

It had been almost two weeks since Hayato last saw Umehito-senpai. Actually, the frequency of which Hayato saw Umehito-senpai in the hallways dropped significantly. And Hayato felt bad; he hadn't meant to hurt Umehito's feelings like that.

In the Classical Music Room on the third floor, down the corridor from the Third Music Room, Hayato and two other players, a flutist and a cellist, sat around in a triangle, black music stands situated in front of them. Spread out on the stands was sheet music and the title printed in slightly bold print was "Trio for Flute, Violin and Cello in D Major, No.5: II. Allegro". The three players brought their instruments to playing position, then as one, the flutist, Takahashi Kasuka, and Hayato played. The tune was light and airy, and then the cello, Heijima Hibari, snuck in, its deep tone meshing in with the higher pitched notes.

As the song played, Hayato swayed lightly in his seat, his neck relaxed and head bobbing slightly with the music. With his eyes falling closed, Hayato quickly disconnected from the real world and landed in his own—on Cloud Nine where there was nothing but him and the music that he played. In this world, he felt like he was isolated, but never felt alone, and felt content. There were no troubles in this world, they all completely disappeared—even Umehito-senpai.

The song soon began to close and Hayato opened his eyes again. He moved and angled the bow of the violin up and down several times before holding on to the note for an extra count. He pressed too hard on the strings while he dragged the bow up again for the last time. It popped, snapping at his cheekbone, close to his eye. Hayato shot up from his seat, his mahogany violin clanging loudly on the floor. The other players stood up from their seats, nearly knocking the chairs over and rushed to Hayato's side.

With the adamant advice of Heijima Hibari, Hayato was escorted to the infirmary. The nurse, dressed in a white knee-length button-up dress and white shoes, sat Hayato in a chair, a window to his left. While the nurse cleaned and checked his wound, his emerald eyes wandered to the window. The clouds reminded him of that day Hōshakuji Renge, the self-proclaimed Host Club manager, decided to make a movie for the Host Club to gain an even grander amount of customers. It was Tamaki's turn to be the dramatic underappreciated prince when grey clouds appeared and began to rain. And it seemed that's what was gong to happen in a few minutes: dark grey clouds pouring buckets of rain.

"_That kindness that you've shown me that day . . . was more than the attention I've received from anyone else until that point. Just from your actions and personality, I feel as if I've known you for a long time. So this is what it meant by—"_

A small smile stretched over Hayato's lips. Umehito-senpai said that to him the second time they met—it was a cloudy day, too. Umehito cut himself off from his own sentence before rushing off in a blur. Now that Hayato had all the puzzle pieces in place, he felt bad that he unknowingly led Umehito on.

"_If you do something to upset Nekozawa-senpai, you'll be cursed!"_ Tamaki has said. A small lump grew in Hayato's throat. He hoped that Umehito really didn't put curses on people as the blond prince said.

The nurse tapped Hayato's shoulder, pulling him from his reverie and told him that his eye will be fine; it was only a small cut on his cheek. She gave him some anti-scarring ointment to put on every time he has to change the band aid. He bowed gratefully and walked back down the corridors in a slight daze.

Guilt was settling heavily on the poor violinist—but what could he do about it? Getting anyone from the Host Club was impossible. He doubted that anyone would be of actual . . . Haruhi could help. Haruhi definitely had more than his share of rejected girls (for the fact that Haruhi was in fact a girl) and he's placated a few of the girls as well. Maybe Hayato could do the same; if it worked for Haruhi, it should work for Hayato. With that, the violinist returned to the Classical Music Room with a renewed determination.


End file.
